Bo Knapp will always remember the first time he saw Beverly Scott. Beverly was a transfer student at Henderson Junior High in Little Rock, Arkansas, on the first day of eighth grade in August 1968. When Bo and his best friend first encountered Beverly, they were both waiting in the school hallway.

Bo gave Beverly an ID bracelet with his name on it as a token of their devotion, and she never took it off. And they enjoyed a charming, brief courtship over the following few months. Bo would sneak into Beverly’s yard after curfew to spend some more time with her.

Decades later, years passed. Thanks to modern media, Bo and Beverly were once again on the outside edges of one another’s life by the mid-2000s. Bo went through a divorce, while Beverly’s spouse passed away, and they both had to deal with difficult situations despite living hundreds of miles apart.

The two had lost contact for more than a decade after that until one day, out of the blue Bo sent a heartfelt message to Beverley professing his love for her.

Though she shared the same sentiment, Beverly didn’t know what to do when the message appeared on her phone since she didn’t want to risk upsetting the ship’s crew. Beverly made the decision to disregard the message, claiming she was on vacation and hadn’t checked her mailbox.

After contact had been re-established and feelings were made known, Bo and Beverley decided to take a trip to Fiji to speed up the rekindling process.

Beverly explains, “We both have gone through so much and have such a deep appreciation and love for each other and our life together,” adding that she is grateful to have had “two soulmates in my lifetime, which is unheard of.”

Bo and Beverly have had a touching and rewarding experience reflecting back on their middle school romance, their decades apart, and their unexpected reunion.